The Dwellers/ Alfredo Silva Estrada

The dwellers project their shadows
On the walls of a happier city

They do not rest in the threshold
They create it
From the roots moved by their footsteps
With gestures, sometimes dramatic,
Of a radiant waiting

Their hands guide the slow rising ivy
Causing winds punctuated by the fervor of the invisible
By the breath of love

In that unnamed eagerness
They make that every evocation has name in the future

While bearing incredible passages
Fields where mirrors echoes flourish and rebound
Meagerly real

Thus, by instant, the dwellers surprise us
When we inhabit the silence of patient signs
And the first persuasion of light touching our skin

From Los moradores (1974). Note of the translators: Silva Estrada's poetry is unique in the spectrum of Venezuelan literature. His work should be studied and translated with such distinctiveness in mind. He did not collaborate or join any literary group. In order to understand his work, it is advisable to read Stéphane Mallarmé. Due to the level of complexity of his poetry, this piece will be in constant revision.